


flames, extinguished

by acidphantom



Category: In the Flesh (TV)
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Weird Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-04
Updated: 2014-10-04
Packaged: 2018-02-19 20:58:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2402639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acidphantom/pseuds/acidphantom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>seven disappointments in the life of simon monroe</p>
            </blockquote>





	flames, extinguished

**Author's Note:**

> i really enjoyed [redibis](http://archiveofourown.org/users/redibis/pseuds/redibis)'s in the flesh poetry and i was like, "hey that's a party i should join!" so i did. woops.
> 
> also i don't know how to tag things i'm a sham.

i.  
at church when you are  
a child you learn that  
your god is a compassionate  
god, a gracious one, and  
at night before bed you  
clasp your hands in prayer  
and speak to him, but  
he doesn’t hear, or  
if he does, he doesn’t care

it isn’t until later  
that you learn that  
your god is a capricious  
god as well

ii.  
waiting at the airport it is  
easy to mistake the  
trembling tender feeling  
in your chest for excitement

the city is a rush  
around you, the  
glitz and grit and  
familiar neon burning  
pulsing in your veins  
and, familiar also,  
is the way the fire  
cools and dies, dimly  
glowing embers all that  
remain, as is the nature  
of things that ignite

it’s something that you  
have always known, but you  
wanted to pretend for once

iii.  
strung up like christ  
you refuse to sacrifice  
yourself for the sins of  
a guilty conscious,  
you are the undead, you  
are the redeemed, you  
do not want to do this anymore

they pretend not to hear

iv.  
he pretends not to hear, or  
rather he doesn’t want to  
forget her and  
forgive, you  
were never asking to be, you  
only wanted to be heard

v.  
he hears, but will not listen, or  
rather he doesn’t want to  
abandon the safety of the  
cage they have trapped him in  
along with the rabbids they  
found wandering the woods

he says “don’t do anything  
stupid,” and when you  
listen, you are not sure who  
is more surprised, or who  
you are more disappointed in

vi.  
like a child clamoring for  
your father’s approval, you  
sit down on the bed, you  
clasp your hands in prayer  
and wait for your god to  
speak to you. he says:  
“you must sacrifice the  
first risen on the  
twelfth hour of the  
twelfth day of the  
twelfth month,” you  
will lead your people  
to salvation, and  
a part of you, maybe,  
has always known that  
all flames are inevitably  
extinguished, but you had  
managed to forget for once

vii.  
when kieren pulls away,  
finally, his hands are  
red with her blood that flows  
from her veins and falls to the  
ground in incomprehensible  
droplets, normalcy,  
a bad dream you can  
not fathom and do  
not want to acknowledge, you 

do not want to do this anymore,  
cannot stay in this town with the  
proof of your betrayal, the  
burn of loss and disappointment

kieren wants to stay, or  
maybe he needs to, will  
not abandon this place,  
these people he loves.  
he says: “i’m okay here,”  
he wants to stay,  
but he wants you  
to stay here with him, and  
speaking with his parents it is  
easy to mistake the  
trembling tender feeling  
in your chest for excitement


End file.
